It is known that, at the end of a production using a circular knitting machine, men's stockings, henceforward called "socks", have to be turned out in order to permit further finishing operations such as, for example, the invisible sewing of the toe.
It is also known that after the sewing of the toe, the socks have to be turned out again in order to be turned right side out.
At present, the turning out operation is performed by means of a turning out device only found in circular knitting machines for sock manufacture. The turning out device is fixed coaxially with the cylinder of the needles, and the turning out is carried out by pneumatic means.
However, this known device has some serious disadvantages. A first disadvantage resides in the fact that it is mounted inside the circular machine so that it requires different adaptation in relation to the type of machine for which it is intended. A further disadvantage is due to the pneumatic functioning which has limited reliability owing partly to the characteristic rigidity of the socks and partly to the impurities which are inevitably sucked in by the machine and which compel it to be stopped at a certain frequency, thus reducing the rate of production.
As far as the turning out of the socks after the sewing of the toe is concerned, the socks still must be turned out by hand.